Biggest Loser 9 Spring Challenge -- thread closing -- see new thread Part 2!

[MelanieC]

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?


Mine is spring & summer - Spring - I love the fact that it's getting warmer, the days are getting longer and the colors of the flowers and grass are coming out. Summer - I love because it's nice and warm, you can bring out the shorts, the days are long and you can get out and do things.

 

[MelanieC]

Wow what a busy couple of days at work and at home. We awoke to a ton of snow this morning and it's going to snow ALL day long too!

Last night my DD17 had her last Basketball game as a cheerleader. It was sad, but it was a great game and we won too! It was Senior night too, so that was fun but again sad. It's so cool to hear what plans all the kids have.

I'm working at home today, but I think that our entire company is, lol! I can't seem to keep a connection on my work latop, and every e-mail won't load! This has happened before when we had a day when almost everyone stayed at home. I've been sitting here for 45 minutes and answered one e-mail that never sent and now I'm trying to re-start, lol.

 

[lisah0711]

First, a big congratulations to all of our superstars and especially to our biggest loser, princessbride6205! It is quite an accomplishment to come home from vacation and be the biggest loser! The competition is heating up -- we have quite a few folks who are neck and neck -- how exciting!

And another group goal has come and gone! How long will it take up to knock down 1000 pounds?

Thanks for the 1/3 statistic, too, LuvBaloo and thanks for being our weightkeeper.

Keep up the good work everyone. You are all winners because you are here and sticking with it!

If anyone is looking for music suggestions -- Corinna posted a question in the Monday Mixer thread on the WISH events section (I can't link sorry!), where people are posting the music that motivates them. I'm getting lots of great ideas!Maria

I know, I'm loving hearing about songs I've forgotten about and a lot of fun new ones!

Oh and over the top news we got a huge rebate for buying our home in November. I think we are splurging on a hottub and screening in our lanai. Whoo hooo.

I was going to say "No Disney trip?" but then I remembered that you are right there, you lucky girl!

BTW, this is another crazy week for me. I will be lurking in and out. But I am determined to get me exercising in!!!

Hope that your week improves!

QOTD: I bought new clothes after losing weight last fall. I don't know what I will do when I lose the rest. I'd like to do something special other than clothes.

Is there a hobby that you would like to buy stuff for? Or maybe a special day trip somewhere? A piece of jewelry? You are getting close to goal so it won't be too long!

I'm thinking of saving it for the scrapbook weekend at Disney in August. That is my goal date.

Scrapping at Disney -- talk about a dream come true for you, Buffy!

I have been off plan for several days now and can't seem to get back on track. I wouldn't be surprised if I've gained back everything that I've lost Between the virus I had last week and my month visitor I just fell apart. Tomorrow is a new day. Just keep swimmin...just keep swimmin.

Sorry to hear that you are having problems getting back on track. I like your "just keep swimming" attitude. It was tough being sick followed by TOM. But ask yourself, will staying off track make it better? I don't think so. This may be a good time to hold the line. You can do this!

Well I started PT today for a knee injury that I have had for some time and the doc put me on a NO carb diet and NO running... Those are big bummers for me because I am trying to train for the DPHM in 2011 and I enjoy my carbs... I can eat carbs up until 3:30 in the afternoon but after that I have to put it aside. As for no running he wants me to do the bike and rowing machine to get my legs stronger... I just hope that all this will work for me b/c if it does not I have no idea how I am going to manage to train for this half-marathon.

Bummer about your knee and the restrictions. Luckily it is a ways to go for your race. Maybe getting help with this issue now will save you from an injury later that you couldn't compensate for in time. I bet as your legs get stronger you will be able to run or wog.

Gotta prepare for the rest of my day. We will work on the girls Valentine's cards this afternoon so those are ready for Friday.Can't believe I finished 3rd last week! Congrats to all!

Glad that you are feeling better!

So I had about 2.5 hours of shoveling and throwing snow around on Monday and and 85 minutes yesterday. The cool part: I am not even sore today. The not-cool part? Shoveling snow does not get nearly as many AP as running for the same amount of time. It's about half. Phooey on that!

That makes no sense! Snow shoveling is one of the most intensive activities a person can do!

You're going to figure out what will work for you in maintenance mode. It will take some trial and error. But one thing I do know, after all this work, and all this effort, you aren't going to suddenly give it up, let yourself go and find yourself back where you started. You are so determined and succesful. It won't ever, ever happen. So don't worry about that because it is not even a possibility for the person you are today. You can do this!

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

I love the summer time. The days are longer. The weather is so much nicer. We can be outside more.

to everyone who is snowed in -- be careful with that shoveling. We could use a little of that snow in the west. They need snow for the Olympics and are starting to worry about the snow pack here. So send it our way!

 

[pjlla]

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

Without a doubt.... SUMMER!!! I hate, hate, hate the winter. Spring is nice, but spring here in NH often consists of snow storms, mud season, and then straight on to heat and humidity. Fall is also beautiful, but I can't love it because I know what is coming next.

I will tolerate the heat and humidity ANYDAY because the alternative of cold and snow is so unbearable!!

I love the long days, the bright sunshine, the occasional summer shower followed by a rainbow, birds singing in the morning, crickets chirping, thunderstorms, green trees, green grass, flowers in bloom.... I LOVE summer.


I'm at work again today. She called me unexpectedly late. I already had my exercise clothes on and my sneakers tied. I was going to hit the TM as soon as DD got on the bus. I wasn't going to wait to exercise at the Y tonight because we are getting a bit of snow (but not like most of you East coasters are experiencing) and I am thinking that swim practice might be cancelled tonight. oh well.... the TM will still be waiting for me when I get home. It did start snowing here about 9 am and it is coming down at a good clip now. But we are only in the 1-3" belt, so it won't last long I suppose.

I feel like I am on track for a good loss this week, but I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. I did make some lowfat chocolate bran muffin things (WW recipe using a lowfat brownie mix) last weekend and I have had a couple each day... hopefully the recipe points was correct because if not, I might be in trouble! But they are delicious and hard to resist!

Time to do the next reading group! I'll hop back on later!...........P

 

[lecach]

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

I guess I would say Fall. It's not hot, it's not cold, my allergies arent bad like in the spring. And there are a ton of fall festivals in our area.

 

[corinnak]

princessbride6205 Congratulations on your amazing loss this week!

That makes no sense! Snow shoveling is one of the most intensive activities a person can do!

You're going to figure out what will work for you in maintenance mode. It will take some trial and error. But one thing I do know, after all this work, and all this effort, you aren't going to suddenly give it up, let yourself go and find yourself back where you started. You are so determined and succesful. It won't ever, ever happen. So don't worry about that because it is not even a possibility for the person you are today. You can do this!

I would have thought the same thing about the snow shoveling, but it turns out...not so much, at least according to WW. The tricky thing is, it seems to me there are a few different levels of snow shoveling. There's the scraping the light fluffy inch to the side of your sidewalk in October. There's the difficult, slow going heavy, wet snow. And there's a huge lot of stuff in between. What I was doing yesterday, thankfully was not too heavy, but it was a lot of lifting and throwing. Well, we all know the numbers are just a vague quantification of a nebulous reality anyway.

Thanks for the pep talk - I appreciate it so very much. It is really not fun to get to goal weight, camp out for a while and then see that scale creep up! I will figure this out, I know.

I feel like I am on track for a good loss this week, but I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch. I did make some lowfat chocolate bran muffin things (WW recipe using a lowfat brownie mix) last weekend and I have had a couple each day... hopefully the recipe points was correct because if not, I might be in trouble! But they are delicious and hard to resist!

Oh, those sound so good. I know what you mean about questioning the points on a recipe. Was it from the website or a cookbook? Brownies are one of my definite "danger" foods.


Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?
I love Spring. The pink trees. The smell of fresh earth. The first times running outside after a long, indoor winter. The cool but not freezing cold temperatures. I love the metaphor of spring as well - things coming back to life after months and months of quiet hibernation. Rebirth, regrowth, renewal. I love it when the grass just starts to get green again. And when suddenly there are leaves on the trees.


And I have been thinking more about that "Rewards" QOTD as well. In the context of losing, I felt adequately rewarded by the progress I was making. The visible changes in my body, the way that clothes fit better, and even getting to change my clippie all helped keep me going.

When switching to maintaining, those intrinsic rewards aren't there so much. Oh, it feels great to be there, mind you, but it's not as sustaining, somehow. Given that I am thinking of jewelry for essentially 6 weeks of maintaining (yes, on top of the entire loss, of course), I am starting to think about if I would enjoy some kind of ongoing rewards structure for maintenance. Hmmm. It might be too much work to think of what it would be!

 

[pjlla]

Oh, those sound so good. I know what you mean about questioning the points on a recipe. Was it from the website or a cookbook? Brownies are one of my definite "danger" foods.

And I have been thinking more about that "Rewards" QOTD as well. In the context of losing, I felt adequately rewarded by the progress I was making. The visible changes in my body, the way that clothes fit better, and even getting to change my clippie all helped keep me going.

When switching to maintaining, those intrinsic rewards aren't there so much. Oh, it feels great to be there, mind you, but it's not as sustaining, somehow. Given that I am thinking of jewelry for essentially 6 weeks of maintaining (yes, on top of the entire loss, of course), I am starting to think about if I would enjoy some kind of ongoing rewards structure for maintenance. Hmmm. It might be too much work to think of what it would be!

I found the recipe here under the recipe index. I'll try to find it and put up a link. Here it is...

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1029401

A few notes.... I used FiberOne cereal instead of All-Bran because that is what I had. The cereal absorbed ALL of the water and there was nothing to make the batter moist when I started mixing them together. I added 1 C of water and it made things the right consistency. They baked for the amount of time listed on the recipe. The recipe also said it made 12 muffins.... I made 16 and they were still a decent size.... I don't think I could have fit it all in 12 muffin cups. But I am still counting them as 1 pt. each. I could have done the math using the brownie box and the cereal box, just to be sure, but I was feeling lazy and decided to trust the recipe. They are not super chocolatey.... if I make them again I might throw a tablespoon of cocoa powder in.



I LOVE the idea of rewards for maintenance! As I keep creeping slowly close to my goal weight (and then fall of the wagon and creep AWAY from it) I am constantly reminded that the TOUGH PART is still to come.... MAINTENANCE! I am thinking maybe a reward every 3 months?? I'll have to give it more thought...................P

 

[IWISHFORDISNEY]

What is my favorite season and why?

I also have to go with summer. I love that I can go to the beach every day and have a great tan. It is hot down here but you learn to deal with it. Our fall is worse than summer IMO. Spring here is pretty amazing too. The flower and garden festival is one of my favorite times in Disney. I can not wait until it is nice out every day and my son is out of school so we can play!!


On a side note I am doing great with my C25K program thus far and would encourage anyone to try it. I hope I can make it all the way through and believe me if I can do it anyone can. I am so not a runner and I am sure my neighbors are getting a good show with my giggly butt. I am loving it though.

 

[princessbride6205]

Thanks to everyone for the congrats. And a HUGE thank you to LuvBaloo for accepting my late weigh in PM last night! I thought I had sent it on Friday, then got really bummed that I had a big loss and didn't even get to report it. I saw that results hadn't been posted, so I PM'ed and hoped it would "count."

Lisa - I was really surprised at my loss too. I expected to lose the 2 pounds I'd gained on vacation, but I lost those plus another 2. It's always exciting to see the scale do a big move.

And I have been thinking more about that "Rewards" QOTD as well. In the context of losing, I felt adequately rewarded by the progress I was making. The visible changes in my body, the way that clothes fit better, and even getting to change my clippie all helped keep me going.

When switching to maintaining, those intrinsic rewards aren't there so much. Oh, it feels great to be there, mind you, but it's not as sustaining, somehow. Given that I am thinking of jewelry for essentially 6 weeks of maintaining (yes, on top of the entire loss, of course), I am starting to think about if I would enjoy some kind of ongoing rewards structure for maintenance. Hmmm. It might be too much work to think of what it would be!

I know what you mean about the maintaining vs losing rewards. For me losing is it's own reward because I could fit in some old clothes, then needed to buy some new smaller ones, and seeing the numbers on the scale get closer and closer to goal has been enough. I'm about 2 pounds away from my goal, so I like your idea about having some maintaining rewards in place.

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

Without a doubt.... SUMMER!!! I hate, hate, hate the winter. Spring is nice, but spring here in NH often consists of snow storms, mud season, and then straight on to heat and humidity. Fall is also beautiful, but I can't love it because I know what is coming next.

Completely agree! I really do like Fall (apples, pumpkins, my birthday, Thanksgiving), but it will never be my fave because it reminds me too much that winter is coming. Spring in MN is sometimes nonexistent. It goes from "less frigid" to summer. Every year I think, I should get myself a nice lightweight coat for spring, and every year 2-3 weeks pass before I find one, and it's already turned into summer!

 

[tigger813]

QOTD: I like each season for different reasons. I love the trees in the spring and fall. I love warm summer rains. I have to say I'm not so happy with winter the last few years so I can say that's my least favorite.

Thanks, Lisa! I am getting a bit of a headache but it may just be hunger. Nose is quite stuffy but I think the throat is better.

Girls and I are all home. They ended up closing preschool at 11:30 anyways.

Gonna make myself a tossed salad with some chicken nuggets cut up in it.

Agenda for the afternoon: Eat, get Valentines for school done, do some Wii Fit, read, watch a movie or two and just relax!

 

[pjlla]

Well, the snow continues to fall here. The ride home after school should be sloppy and slippery. I am keeping my fingers crossed that they cancel swim practice and the swim-a-thon fundraiser that is scheduled for tonight, but I probably won't be so lucky.

I am planning on baked potatoes tonight for dinner. Toppings will be leftover chili from Tuesday, homemade lowfat cheese sauce, broccoli, bacon bits, and salsa. I am the only one who likes sour cream, so I won't bother to serve that.... too many calories. Hopefully we can eat before swim. If I can get home a little before 4pm and throw the potatoes in, they should be ready to eat by 5pm. Then we can leave for swim by 5:30pm and be all set. I wanted to put the potatoes in the crockpot, but I had to rush to get out the door for work at the last minute this morning, so I didn't have time. (Just thinking out loud here....)

BTW, Samantha Brown has a new Orlando/Disney special on the Travel Channel tonight. I think it is on at 8pm.

TTYL.................P

 

[cclovesdis]

QOTD: Definitely summer. There's no snow in the summer and it's so much easier to get exercise in then. I love to swim. The snow today isn't too bad here in CT, but we're still waiting for the heavy snow to start.

Had a bad day eating wise yesterday but am doing well so far today. I got in 4 APs, which helped, but not that much. I'm still 21 points over my WPA. I'm planning to get in lots of exercise today as well. I'm hoping for a total of about 75 minutes, like yesterday. I'm also hoping there will be something good on TV tonight that I can watch while doing Wii Fit Free Step and Free Run.

Thanks for the suggeston re: music for my MP3 player. I'll definitely read that thread. Hope everyone has a great rest of the day!

 

[cclovesdis]

BTW, Samantha Brown has a new Orlando/Disney special on the Travel Channel tonight. I think it is on at 8pm.

TTYL.................P

Thanks! Something to watch while I do some Wii Fit Plus Free Step!

 

[maiziezoe]

A BIG congrats to all the losers and a super big congrats to princessbride and kitchensinkguy! You guys rock!

We got a lot of snow here yesterday... this morning, at 4 am, we had an EARTHQUAKE. Yes, an earthquake in northern Illinois. I slept through the earthquake but woke up to my 21 year old saying a few choice words. He was completely freaked out. He said the entire house was shaking. The center of the quake is about 40 minutes from my house and about 4 miles from my BFF's house.

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

Summer, without a doubt. Where I live in Illinois, Spring and Fall are just Winter in disguise. A really bad disguise. I loathe winter. I like summer... the hotter, the better.

 

[maiziezoe]

Oh, oh, oh... I completely forgot something else I was going to mention.

Biggest Loser watchers... last night there was an Olympian on the show last night named Rockne Brubaker (he did the last chance work-out... cute kid, lots of hair)... I know his mom! She and I used to work together. I have known Rockne since he was a little boy!

Unfortunately, he didn't make it on the Olympic team.

 

[princessbride6205]

Oh, oh, oh... I completely forgot something else I was going to mention.

Biggest Loser watchers... last night there was an Olympian on the show last night named Rockne Brubaker (he did the last chance work-out... cute kid, lots of hair)... I know his mom! She and I used to work together. I have known Rockne since he was a little boy!

Unfortunately, he didn't make it on the Olympic team.

He was adorable! I'm sorry to hear he didn't make it.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

Fall, I love the warm days and cool nights. It's hammock weather to me. I love the colors especially here in New England, the crisp smell in the air, the food. DH makes his famous chili once a year and October is it.
This is fall in New England at my house:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1617672

Scrapping at Disney -- talk about a dream come true for you, Buffy!

This will be my 5th trip. I look forward to it every year. This year there are 18 DIS'ers going and I'm really really excited! 196 days to go!!!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Oh, oh, oh... I completely forgot something else I was going to mention.

Biggest Loser watchers... last night there was an Olympian on the show last night named Rockne Brubaker (he did the last chance work-out... cute kid, lots of hair)... I know his mom! She and I used to work together. I have known Rockne since he was a little boy!

Unfortunately, he didn't make it on the Olympic team.

To bad he didn't make it. Hopefully he can make the team next time.

 

[donac]

Wednesday's QOTD: What is your favorite Season and why?

I like our mild winters here at the jersey shore but all this snow is starting to get to me this year.

I like fall and spring because it is quiet here and the weather is great.

I also like summer because I don't work but there are some things I don't like. We live near the shore and a race track that operates in the summer so the traffic can get pretty crazy. You just have to time things right. I love to swim at 6 in the morning but our pool's liner went last year and I don't think we are going to replace it. Dh doesn't think it is used enough to get a new liner. I would use a friend's pool but they have teenagers who don't use the pool so they may not open it up this summer.

I guess I can't decide which season.

It was raining this morning and it changed to snow about 2. It is coming down pretty hard and they don't think it will stop until late tonight. I am interested to see what happens with the schools tomorrow.

Chili in the crockpot and I just have to wash up the dishes that are in the sink. I may make some biscuits for dinner for the guys. Food has been pretty good today but my knee has been acting up so I have been taking it easy today.

Ds went into work this morning and he came home about 1. He said he made some points with the top guy at penney's because only a few employees made it into work this morning. He helped out a couple of departments that needed help and then unloaded a truck that had come in. My ds may not be working in the bio field that he wants but he is a great worker and I know they love him at penney's.

Take it easy everyone who is getting snow. Be careful.

 

[kimara]

Way to go losers!!

I really thought I would NEVER be on that list. So Happy!
Loved the 1/3 done update.
It is SO fun to see that my sis & I tied on the 1/3 list. I'll have to tell her tonight when she calls, she is at Disneyland and her laptop isn't working. Poor thing.

Many thanks to coaches, posters, statisticians and losers!